The Largest U.S. Rental Market Braces for the End of Its Eviction Moratorium

(Bloomberg) -- New York’s eviction and foreclosure moratorium is set to expire on Saturday, Jan. 15, putting an estimated 225,000 people across the state at risk of eviction.

“We talked about giving people a little more breathing room, giving them a little more relief on a short term basis — and that went all the way until Jan. 15,” Governor Kathy Hochul said during a press briefing Tuesday, confirming she would not extend the moratorium. 

New York is the biggest rental market in the U.S., with almost half of state residents living in rented units. Black and Hispanic residents are more likely to be rent-burdened — spend more than 30% of their income on rent — according to the Robin Hood poverty tracker.

“There's a lot of nervousness, a lot of anxiety. People aren't really sure about their rights,” said Andrea Shapiro, the Director of Advocacy and Programs at the Met Council on Housing, a tenants rights’ group. Landlords will still have to go to court to evict tenants, and they cannot kick people out for back rent accrued since March 7, 2020, per the Tenants Safe Harbor Act. 

New York also received over $2.7 billion from the federal government’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program. Most of that has already been distributed, but Governor Hochul this week asked the U.S. Treasury Department for more funds. 

Many renters may not know about these remaining protections, particularly those whose primary language is not English, Shapiro said. “We've definitely seen huge amount of immigrants being pushed out of their apartments and living situations.” 

New York was one of the last remaining states with a moratorium in place. The Supreme Court ended the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s federal moratorium over the summer. Many cities across the country have since seen an uptick in evictions, a preliminary analysis from Princeton University’s eviction lab found.

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